"Yesterday's Dream": Sept 10th: Finishing the Ireland Trip

We moved on to the Ring of Beara. It was a beautiful trip overlooking the ocean for much of the drive. The terrain was very rugged. As you can see in this picture, many of the hills are mostly rock.

Cable Car
We headed to a spot where a cable car carried us across an ocean pass to an island where we hiked.

Ocean pass we crossed in the cable car

Although a lot of the land here is barren, there were still sheep and some farming in the lower elevations.

Sheep grazing
There were sheep literally anyplace we drove. They are roaming relatively free. A colored spot is sprayed on the sheep's backs to identify the owners.

Our last stop in southern Ireland, before returning to Dublin, was Doolin. It is a quaint seaside town with castle ruins, some restaurants and hiking opportunities nearby.

Doolin

Our Doolin accommodations

The place we stayed in was reminiscent of old Ireland stone architecture, The Lodge Doolin. We were able to walk to town for restaurants, pubs and shopping.

Castle ruins in Doolin

Across the street from our lodging was the ruin of a very old castle. As we drove around Ireland we passed many ruins of castles and other old buildings. We were told there is a legend that anyone who takes the stones from one of these old buildings will make the fairies, or maybe spirits of the former occupants very angry. Perhaps this superstition has something to do with the fact that so many ruins have not been removed.

We had some rain so we put on our rain gear and walked around the town. We found a very fun pub with excellent food. I enjoyed some of their signs.

Doolin is very close to the cliffs of Moher, one of the top highlights of Ireland. We were fortunate to have wonderful sunny weather. We took a very long hike, 16 miles round trip, along the top of the cliffs out to the point, Hags Head. The walk was very well worth it. We weren't sure we wanted to go all the way but we just couldn't stop. I include pictures along the way so you can get a perspective of the different views and distances from where we started and ended.

Cliffs of Moher

Our hike started where the trees are , went along one cliff wall and then out the cliffs on the left. We hiked to the end AND BACK.

About three miles into the hike, this was the view looking backward. The starting point is not in view because it is blocked by the cliffs.

The view from about 6 miles into the hike. Note the very small tower at the top left is now visible because the trail curved.

The first 3 or 4 miles the trail was fairly smooth. After that, there was a sign that said the trail wasn't well maintained, hike at your own risk. Here is what some lot of the trail looked like. Unlike in this picture, most of it was very close to the edge with no guard rails. If you look at the right side of pictures you can see Hags Head, a small tower castle ruin.at the end, our destination.

Someone started building little stone rock sculptures at this site. It was amazing how many there were, and some were ridiculously close to a sheer cliff drop off.

As we progressed, the tower, could just barely be seen at the top. It was going to be a long hike back!

We finally arrived at the end. The tower was unimpressive but the views were incredible.

I think Kaitlyn was pondering the return hike. Note, we could no longer see the tower back at the beginning.

The sun was setting on the way back which changed the colors of the cliff. They were truly beautiful, especially contrasted with the blue water.

Here are a couple signs providing some information.

We had planned to take a ferry to some islands the next day but the weather did not cooperate. Plan B turned out great. Despite the rain, we toured the Caherconnel fort which dates back to the 10th century. The rain kept me from taking pictures but this link does a nice job.

Caherconnell Fort history

We learned a great deal about the stone fences that cover the hillsides in much of Ireland. I found this site that gives a lot of interesting insight into the fences and their construction.

The Stone Fences of Ireland

In addition to the fort, Caherconnel also is a working sheep farm. They train and use sheep dogs. We attended a demonstration which was fun. The dogs are amazing.

We left Doolin and headed back to Dublin. We had scheduled a time for us to see the Book Of Kells at Trinity College.

Trinity College

Trinity College is the oldest college in Ireland. This link provides some interesting history.

Trinity College

Here are some pictures from some of the oldest parts of the college.

I found it amazing that this harp survived over the centuries.

We were able to view the Book of Kells exhibit. I was again amazed that something could be preserved so well for many centuries. This link provides the history.

Book of Kells

A final tour we squeezed in was to tour the Teeling Irish Whiskey distillery. It was very interesting. Here are some signs that explained the process.

Rebecca

The whiskey is distilled in these large devices. The owner of Teeling named the three of these devices after his three daughters. This one is named Rebecca. I told my daughter she has a whiskey distilling apparatus carrying her name!

The tour ended with a taste session. Will and I bought the option to taste three. A representative explained how they were made and the differences. I could definitely taste the difference. I liked one, the other two were too strongly favored for me.

Teeling taste opportunity

We perused the gift store. None of us had room in our luggage to carry anything home so we passed. We in particular passed on the Teeling Whiskey Single Malt that was priced at $2,000 Euros, (over $2,000)